Bacon Gruyère Sous Vide Eggs in 15 Minutes? YES!

Starbucks® is a fabulous company. And they are EVERYWHERE! They’ve got outposts all around the world and are always revealing new products that become all the rage. The latest one to catch fire is their Sous Vide Eggs. I am partial to the Bacon Gruyère variety.

Let’s just review what the heck sous vide is. It’s a method of cooking whereby food is vacuum-sealed and immersed in a water bath at a lower-than-normal consistent temperature for a much longer period of time which ensures even cooking without overcooking the outside and retaining moisture. To truly achieve this, you need a sous vide machine, which, for me, is not practical. For the love of these eggs and wanting to make them at home, I have to give up more kitchen storage and spend a nice little chunk of cash? Nope.

But I still wanted to make these eggs at home. That’s when I saw an ad for an AS SEEN ON TV product called Egglettes, a new product. They’re intriguing on their own… little adorable pods… allegedly you crack an egg into them and boil accordingly to make a hard-boiled or soft-boiled egg – no shells to peel. You can also make pure egg whites, use egg beaters, and add ingredients to make little omelettes. Hmmm… what about making a sous vide style treat? And a new segment of the KitchAnnette channel was born – Product Reviews!

First I had to make sure they work as advertised. I received a package of pods. These Egglettes really are cute. They also feel substantial… not flimsy. Great! So for my first experiment, I made a hard-boiled and soft-boiled egg as directed. Three short bursts of cooking spray in each, then in went the egg. You could also add a couple of drops of oil and roll it around to make sure it’s all coated. Well, in a few minutes, I had my eggs ready to be cut open and tested. BAM – they were perfect. The soft was just the way I liked it. I left the other in the water a few minutes longer (there is a cooking guide included) and there was the perfect hard-boiled egg. Nice! I was very encouraged to take a shot at the Bacon Gruyère Sous Vide Egg.

After checking the ingredients list on the Starbucks site, I set off to come up with some measurements. So far so good, but the real test would be in acquiring the velvety sous vide-style texture without the machine or without cooking them for 60-90 minutes – a time frame that I think is wayyyyyy too long to wait for eggs of any kind.

The mixture was ready so assembly began… first the bacon, then the mixture up to the fill line in the Egglettes, then for good measure, another bit of bacon. Into the boiling water they went… timed for 15 minutes with the rolling boil consistent throughout. To make the proper comparison, I bought an order of the real deal from Starbucks. I found out they heat them in a convection oven for about 45 seconds to get them warm and develop that bit of a golden crust. I don’t have one so I warmed them in the microwave for the same 45 seconds then put all of them, the authentic and my Egglettes version, under the broiler until they got satisfactorily golden, about 5 minutes.

The taste test was on and YES!!!! IT’S A WIN! The textures were really well matched. The flavor was really close, the only difference being a bit of an artificial taste in the Starbucks version and mine were cheesier. Also my bacon was tastier.

PRODUCT: Egglettes – REVIEW: KitchA-WOW! RECOMMENDATION: Buy ’em and enjoy ’em. They fully deliver on their promise of easy hard and soft boiled eggs with no peeling, are great to make omelettes in and then have them on-the-go, and going a step further, are an inexpensive and amazing solution to making delicious sous vide-style eggs without wasting time or spending lots of money on a costly machine.